


Heroes

by Severina



Series: Alphabet Soup [8]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Community: 1_million_words, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 00:17:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4326504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She sits back on her heels, refuses to heed the banshee wail from the street.  The darkness set free from Rumplestiltskin at last.  <i>Now</i> they will fight it, these "heroes".  Now that it threatens one of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Post Season Four. Written for prompt "H" at LJ's 1_million_words A to Z Challenge.
> 
> * * *

They left him.

Belle pushes back the bitterness that rises in her heart. Now is not the time for it, though she knows it will return in the days and nights that follow. She kneels at his side, tentatively licks the tip of her finger before placing it beneath his nose. She swallows dryly when she feels his breath, lifts a shaking hand to scrub at her cheeks. 

Despite the words of the Apprentice, she had her doubts. But her Rumple is still alive. 

She sits back on her heels, refuses to heed the banshee wail from the street. The darkness set free from Rumplestiltskin at last. _Now_ they will fight it, these "heroes". Now that it threatens one of their own. Nothing but contempt, though, for the man that struggled to hold it at bay every single day of his life; who still managed to love even with that monstrous evil feeding on him from the inside, picking away at his humanity piece by piece. 

She hears screaming from beyond the walls of the shop. And still she sits at Rumple's side, watching the feeble rise and fall of his chest. She sits until the yelling stops, until the rapid footfalls fade. She holds Rumplestiltskin's hand.

When the door opens behind her she doesn't lift her head. Expects that they have returned for the body of the Apprentice, or to search the shop – to expect her to leave his side to help them search the shop! – for something to help in their fight against the Dark One. So she starts when the hand comes to rest on her shoulder. Rouses herself from contemplation of Rumple's still face.

"We heard what happened," Ruby says. "We came as quickly as we could."

Belle fights to keep her eyes from filling with tears, smiles wanly at her friends. 

"What can we do?" Archie asks.

Do. She hadn't thought that far, unable to move beyond staying with him, supporting him now more than ever. Proving to him that she loved him, that she had never stopped loving him. That despite everything, despite all the issues that they needed to work out, she always would.

She sniffs back the new round of tears that want to start, lifts her chin to face her friends. "We must move him," she says. "To the house, if we can."

"Of course," Archie says.

"I can get the Maserati," Leroy puts in. "My brother was never a big fan of Gold, but I know he'll let us use his car. For you, Belle."

She doesn't want to think about how they'll maneuver Rumplestiltskin into that tiny car, or get him up the stairs to his comfortable bed in his big, empty house. What she does want, more than anything, is to just sit on the cold floor and not think about anything at all. Just listen to the clock ticking on the sideboard and hold her husband's hand. But hiding in the dark and pretending that there was nothing wrong was part of what got them into this mess, and she simply refuses to behave that way any longer.

"Thank you, Leroy," she says. "Archie, perhaps you could run to the hospital and borrow a gurney?"

"Hell, not just the gurney," Leroy says, "and forget the Maserati. We can borrow a whole damn ambulance, sister!"

Belle blinks up at him, wonders if she should remind the dwarf that 'borrowing' and 'stealing' are two very different things. Then she firms her jaw. David has bigger things to worry about right now, and would he come to her with something this petty she will have no problem putting him quickly in his place. 

"Do it," she says.

* * *

"Careful," Belle says.

She ignores the irritated glance that Leroy shoots her way. Bites her lip instead as she watches Leroy and Archie slowly lower Rumplestiltskin onto the bed, and breathes a sigh of relief when he is laying safe and still. Smoothes her palm down his arm before perching on the side of the bed and taking his hand in hers. She thinks it must be her imagination that his hand feels colder than it did before.

"We wouldn't have dropped him," Leroy says gruffly.

"I know," she answers without looking away from Rumplestiltskin's face. She can feel them hovering, her friends, and forces her eyes away from her husband. "Thank you, again. For everything."

"What are friends for, Belle?" Archie asks.

The tears finally overspill her eyes then, though she's held them back through her husband's collapse, through their abandonment in the darkened shop, through long minutes when she felt more alone in the world than she ever had. She sobs, feels that she might crumple into dust – and then the mattress dips and Ruby's arms encircle her, and Archie's hand comes to squeeze at her shoulder. It is when Leroy reaches out to awkwardly pat at her hair that a watery smile replaces the tears. 

Leroy shuffles back when she turns her face to him. "I'm gonna go return the ambulance now," he says.

She smiles her thanks even as she brushes the tears from her face and straightens her spine. 

"And I'm thinking… tea?"

Her stomach roils at the very thought of it. "Oh, I don't think I could handle anything," she says. 

"Tea would be perfect, Archie," Ruby overrides her. Her friend's arm is still warm around her waist, squeezes her gently now. "You need to keep your strength up, Belle."

"I'm hardly wasting away," Belle tries.

"Do you want me to get Granny in here?" Ruby mock-warns. "She'll have you eating half the menu before she's through."

"No, it's… thank you but…" She lifts her head, takes in both her friends. They meet her gaze with nothing more than concern and sympathy. "You've already helped so much. You don't have to stay."

"Pfft," Ruby says. "Archie, you go put the kettle on. And maybe heat up something light, like soup?"

"On it," Archie answers before Belle can protest further. Belle listens to his footsteps fade as he hastens down the stairs. Presses her husband's cold hand between both of her own. 

"As for you and I, why don't I help you get Gold out of that suit?" Ruby continues. 

"Oh Ruby, I couldn't ask you—"

"Belle, _stop_ ," Ruby interrupts in a tone that will accept no argument. "We're your friends. We're here. And we're staying. Whatever you need, we'll do it." She squeezes Belle's waist one more time before she rises and dusts her hands on her jeans. "Now, where do you keep his pajamas? He'll want to be comfortable while he's recuperating."

Recuperating. Belle hears again the words of the Apprentice – "if the strength is there" – sees again the strange, shining white heart that was left when the Dark One was torn from Rumplestiltskin. She has not wanted to think beyond the needs of the moment – get Rumple out of the shop, get him settled in his bed – to consider what may lay ahead. There were the practical concerns of health and hygiene: that Rumple will need to be fed, to be washed, to have his bodily functions addressed. And the magical ones: that her husband may even now be engaged in the fight of his life as he struggles to return to her. And that she will not want to leave his side until the outcome of that battle is revealed. 

She nods at Ruby, directs her to the correct drawer in the bureau. She takes the tea that Archie returns to offer her, though her hand shakes when she grasps the delicate china, and manages a few sips before she places it on the nightstand. Hears Leroy creep quietly up the stairs after his errand, to stand still and silent in the entranceway. 

There are things to be done, plans to be made, issues to be addressed. But for now Belle merely raises Rumple's limp hand to her lips. Cold, so cold. She kisses his knuckles; replaces his hand atop his chest to lift her own and brush the long hair away from his eyes. 

Her friends close ranks behind her.


End file.
